A junior Minister says patients in the South East are suffering cardiac emergencies have the right to better care.
John Halligan's comments follow the death of a man last week - while being transferred to a hospital in Cork.
The man couldn't receive treatment in Waterford as the cardiac cath lab does not operate on weekends.
Campaigners have protested this weekend to raise the issue and Minister Halligan says people deserve better.
"If he had been taken in on Friday morning instead of Sunday he would have received cardiac intervention at the University Hospital Waterford.
"There was not cath lab on and there was no cardiovascular consultant on call which meant he had to take the trip to Cork.
"We do not know that if he had that intervention he would have survived, but he had the right to have that intervention."